NEW DELHI -Embarrassed after leaked intelligence, India seeks actionable evidence from Pakistan over allegations of strikes inside Pakistan.
India has strongly rejected Pakistan's claim that New Delhi is planning an attack on the neighbouring country, calling the claims "irresponsible and preposterous" with a clear objective of "whipping up war hysteria" in the region.
On the contrary, said Raveesh Kumar, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, "This public gimmick appears to be a call to Pakistan-based terrorists to undertake a terror attack in India."
India's reaction came soon after Pakistan summoned the Indian envoy in Islamabad and issued him a demarche "warning against any misadventure". Earlier in the day, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Islamabad had reliable intelligence that India was planning an attack between April 16 and April 20.
"If anything happens, you can imagine the impact on the peace and stability of the region," he said. "A new mishap could be staged. And its purpose will be to justify their (India's) offensive against Pakistan and to increase diplomatic pressure against Islamabad."
In response, India advised Pakistan that instead of trying to create an alibi for its complicity in terrorism, it should use established diplomatic and DGMO channels and share any actionable and credible intelligence it may have.
It also warned that India "reserves the right to respond firmly and decisively to any cross-border terrorist attack".